Nothing without You
by Saskya-Amant
Summary: She was his strength, his reason to wake up, his reason to keep going in this world, to overcome all the monsters within himself. She was his...love. Entry in the One Word Challenge.


**This is my entry to the One word challenge... I think it's pretty obvious what my word is :P The challenge was to write a one-shot with only one word of dialogue in the whole thing. I realised this harder than it sounds but I tried my best. I have been trying to step out of my comfort zone and move away from Hermione centered fics and I hope I did Remus good with this one. Thanks and I hope you like it :)**

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><p>Curses flew by - red, green, blue, purple flashes colouring the world before his eyes. An endless rainbow of pain and hatred. He scrambled over a dead body, orange light passing by his face the warmth of the hex blistering his skin, one more step and it would have hit him square in the face. He frantically looked around the stone hallway. Hogwarts was tumbling down around him and no one seemed to notice that this sanctuary for magic was being destroyed.<p>

A cry pierced his ears, breaking his thoughts he knew that voice. He would have be able to recognise that voice even if he was left deaf and damaged by this war. He could feel his bones grinding against themselves, itching it change, to make him bigger, stronger, more deadly. But he ran as fast as his human legs could manage fighting against his disease. That was all it was a disease crawling beneath his skin. He would not let it win, not now. Not after he had found it, the one person who could accept him with all his flaws, with all his scars. He couldn't save her if he let the monster free, he couldn't keep them together.

The stone floor sent shocks up his legs with every step he took; his was tired – and old. His body was reaching its limit, he could sense its eventual decline coming, but he just had to reach her first. She had gone quite; one scream and it sent a chill to his heart that it was that had escaped her. She was a fighter; she would scrap at the edge of life to stay here with him. He prayed that was true. Ignoring the raging doubts in his mind, he let his nose lead him. He could smell her, strawberries and chocolate. If her scent was still in the halls he would get to her, he would he told himself.

He was stopped as a masked man stood directly in front of him blocking his path; the monster reared its head as a snarl tore from his throat. His arm whipping forward shooting a red flash of light at the man. He watched as part of him hungered for more, for a second his body fought with him to search for more, to kill more, to feel death more. But he fought more than with any real foe; he fought himself to move in her direction.

Speed once again picking up underneath his feet, portraits on the walls became a blur to him until he was drowned in her scent and he spun on his heels making himself stop. His alert eyes finally taking in where he was, it was just a random hallway. Why was she down here? Why had she left her group? Why had she endangered herself? His thoughts were wild as he bashed in door after door searching for her, his nose was useless to him now, she was everywhere in this one hall. It made no sense, what had she been doing? He had told her to walk steady, to keep her scent clean, anything so he could find her if he needed to. He had never wanted to be separated from her but reason and logic had won when the plan had been formed, he had tried to remain collected, to not show how much he now relied on the quirky woman. But now, now he just wanted to scream at the stupidity of the whole thing. She was lost in this god for saken maze and for all his talents he couldn't find her. It made no sense.

As he continued to slam down the countless doors in the hallway, a new scent reached his nose. It was mingled in with hers; he followed it bringing him around a corner where he saw a body slumped on the ground. He hesitated from a second, wondering if he could bring himself to look and see. But his feet took him whilr his thoughts kept whirling. As he got closer he saw red.

Red blood on the stone floor, red flashes of curses and hexes swimming in the air, a red tinted sky through the window above the body, red hair flowing from their head.

He dropped to his knees pulling them over to see a blank face staring at him, smiling. Fred. He was disgusted with himself for the wave of relief that flowed through him. He tried to reason with himself that there was nothing he could do for the boy now, but that now the world was at loss for its departed prankster, but he couldn't stop himself for being thankful that it wasn't her.

He turned his head towards the curses still filling the hallway and his stomach dropped, there she was. He watched as she danced gracefully avoiding the dark magic being directed at her. He couldn't bring his body to work as he stared wide eyed at what was before him. One trip, one stumble and she could be gone from him all too soon.

As though his thoughts themselves were magic, she did trip, she did stumble and a magnificent rainbow of curses hit her square in the chest and she feel for the last time.

He didn't register how he got to his feet, or his arm rippling and shifting by itself, or the claw connected to his arm pushing its way through the killer's chest pulling his heart out reflecting how he felt. All he knew was that his life, his breath, his heart beat was lying in his arms, her eyes empty, her face smeared with dirt and blood. He reached up to move her hair off her face and saw the claw, tears stung at his eyes. He was a monster but she had accepted all of him, every last piece of his damaged soul.

In that moment he felt just as empty as the shell in his arms, she was no longer there. She was gone. He had no reason to continue fighting, others would fight, others would win. What did the outcome mean to him anymore? Then he remembered the joy she had given him, the little bundle of possibility, the baby boy that was his son. He would be better off without this monster as a father, as the one to look after him, before she came to him, he couldn't even look after himself. What chance did he have with such a fragile creature? No, there was a better life for him out there then with him. He knew someone would take him and care for him, his son would grow up happier without him.

But he wouldn't not without her; she was his strength, his reason to wake up, his reason to keep going in this world, to overcome all the monsters within himself. She was his….

His back burst with warmth, it felt like snakes where crawling over his skin burning tracks in their wake as the word slipped from his lips for the last time as he stared down at her, tearing coming freely now. She was his…

"Love."

And they would be together again.


End file.
